# What is the Republican plan to fix our economy and why will it work? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [November 3, 2010, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-republican-plan-to-fix-our-economy-and-why-will-it-work/559354 "2010-11-03T18:04:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Sitnam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Sitnam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sitnam)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2010, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-republican-plan-to-fix-our-economy-and-why-will-it-work/559354/1 "2010-11-03T18:04:16Z")
I know this is a very general question and Republican Governors and House members each have different issues to deal with and ideas to fix them, but for the most part it seems to be lowering taxes on people who are deemed job creators. If I’m wrong please correct me. So what evidence can they (and by extension you) provide that this will work? ---
**Author:** ![Critical1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3e96dc/32.png) [@Critical1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Critical1)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2010, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-republican-plan-to-fix-our-economy-and-why-will-it-work/559354/2 "2010-11-03T18:07:55Z")
I have yet to see anything from the Republicans that even begins to resemble a plan. lowering taxes on the rich just makes them richer or am I the only one who remembers “Trickle down economics”? ---
**Author:** ![Lobohan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobohan/32/79_2.png) [@Lobohan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobohan)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2010, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-republican-plan-to-fix-our-economy-and-why-will-it-work/559354/3 "2010-11-03T18:09:11Z")
Their main plan seems to be to add 700 billion to the deficit by extending the Bush Tax cuts for the richest Americans for another ten years. Eric Cantor was actually pretending not to understand that the tax cuts for the top brackets would add to the deficit. He was asked several times during MSNBC’s coverage. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2010, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-republican-plan-to-fix-our-economy-and-why-will-it-work/559354/4 "2010-11-03T18:13:22Z")
Their plan is to cut taxes for the rich. When all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail. Of course it won’t work, it didn’t work when the Bush cuts first took effect. There aren’t legions of venture capitalists sitting on their money because they quiver at the thought of paying a somewhat higher tax on their profits, they sit on their money because there aren’t enough customers to justify expansion. ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2010, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-republican-plan-to-fix-our-economy-and-why-will-it-work/559354/5 "2010-11-03T18:14:54Z")
If cutting taxes for the rich would create jobs, we would be ass deep in jobs since the rich have had their way for a decade. The lesson is clear, tax breaks for the poor and middle class is stimulative. Tax cuts and breaks for the wealthy do not create jobs. But the Repubs will continue to push for dismantling the government, and then ask where did it go when they are done. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2010, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-republican-plan-to-fix-our-economy-and-why-will-it-work/559354/6 "2010-11-03T18:18:18Z")
As said, their “plan” is to cut taxes for the rich. They don’t actually _care_ about the economy or the welfare of the country in general. They’ve demonstrated that quite clearly; they just look at the nation as something to lord it over and to loot. Besides, the wealthy are better off in a bad economy; desperate people are more willing to put up with terrible conditions, bad treatment and low pay in return for a job, any job. ---
**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2010, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-republican-plan-to-fix-our-economy-and-why-will-it-work/559354/7 "2010-11-03T18:28:15Z")
Doesn’t the plan also involve reducing the deficit? If you are going to cut, rather than increase, taxes, that means reducing government expenditure in some way. If you cut government expenditure, that means cutting jobs, either directly or indirectly, in almost any conceivable way. That should lead, IMHO, to a double-dip recession or even triple-dip recession. ---
**Author:** ![shiftless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9c0ed/32.png) [@shiftless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shiftless)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2010, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-republican-plan-to-fix-our-economy-and-why-will-it-work/559354/8 "2010-11-03T18:33:36Z")
> [@BobLibDem](#): > > Their plan is to cut taxes for the rich. When all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail. Of course it won’t work, it didn’t work when the Bush cuts first took effect. There aren’t legions of venture capitalists sitting on their money because they quiver at the thought of paying a somewhat higher tax on their profits, they sit on their money because there aren’t enough customers to justify expansion. Well, it works if you happen to be one of the rich. ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2010, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-republican-plan-to-fix-our-economy-and-why-will-it-work/559354/9 "2010-11-03T18:34:49Z")
NM ---
**Author:** ![Jas09](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d07c76/32.png) [@Jas09](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jas09)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2010, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-republican-plan-to-fix-our-economy-and-why-will-it-work/559354/10 "2010-11-03T18:52:28Z")
Snark aside, here is the closest thing to a plan that has been provided: [http://www.roadmap.republicans.budget.house.gov/Plan/](http://www.roadmap.republicans.budget.house.gov/Plan/) Note that this is just one House member’s ideas, and many parts of it are obviously non-starters. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2010, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-republican-plan-to-fix-our-economy-and-why-will-it-work/559354/11 "2010-11-03T18:52:54Z")
> [@Giles](#): > > Doesn’t the plan also involve reducing the deficit? If you are going to cut, rather than increase, taxes, that means reducing government expenditure in some way. If you cut government expenditure, that means cutting jobs, either directly or indirectly, in almost any conceivable way. That should lead, IMHO, to a double-dip recession or even triple-dip recession. Government jobs aren’t real jobs, remember? So sayeth Michael Steele. ---
**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2010, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-republican-plan-to-fix-our-economy-and-why-will-it-work/559354/12 "2010-11-03T18:56:54Z")
> [@jayjay](#): > > Government jobs aren’t real jobs, remember? So sayeth Michael Steele. Tell that to all the defence contractors, building everything from bullets to aircraft carriers. (Though, of course, they won’t be in the GOP’s plans for deficit reduction.) ---
**Author:** ![Trepa\_Mayfield](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/edb3f5/32.png) [@Trepa\_Mayfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trepa_Mayfield)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2010, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-republican-plan-to-fix-our-economy-and-why-will-it-work/559354/13 "2010-11-03T19:32:05Z")
That’s an interesting perspective, Democrats. I wonder what the Republican plan is. ---
**Author:** ![toadspittle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c0e974/32.png) [@toadspittle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/toadspittle)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2010, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-republican-plan-to-fix-our-economy-and-why-will-it-work/559354/14 "2010-11-03T19:43:56Z")
> [@pedescribe](#): > > That’s an interesting perspective, Democrats. I wonder what the Republican plan is. Don’t we all. We’ve been wondering for months and months. Now they’ve won the House, and were STILL wondering. I expect that two years from now, we’ll STILL be wondering. So, to parse the OP: What is the Republican plan to fix our economy **THEY HAVE NONE** and why will it work? I **T WON’T** ---
**Author:** ![Sitnam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Sitnam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sitnam)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2010, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-republican-plan-to-fix-our-economy-and-why-will-it-work/559354/15 "2010-11-03T19:48:16Z")
> [@Jas09](#): > > Snark aside, here is the closest thing to a plan that has been provided: > > [http://www.roadmap.republicans.budget.house.gov/Plan/](http://www.roadmap.republicans.budget.house.gov/Plan/) > > Note that this is just one House member’s ideas, and many parts of it are obviously non-starters. Thank you. Anyone else? ---
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2010, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-republican-plan-to-fix-our-economy-and-why-will-it-work/559354/16 "2010-11-03T20:51:02Z")
Well, you could read [this](http://republicanwhip.house.gov/Jobs/) one straight from the horses mouth. Certainly a large part of it is lowering taxes, but the devil is in the detail. I’d say come back to this subject in a couple months when things start to settle out and the new folks have been sworn in and are in place as to what the Republicans will or won’t be offering up, plan wise, and whether it will work or not. Certainly nothing tried in the past few years has worked very well, so I’d go with ‘this won’t work either’ as a pretty safe bet, but who knows, since the details are still sketchy and the election only a day old (plus some of the results aren’t fully in yet, last I checked, and some of the races haven’t had a winner declared yet). -XT ---
**Author:** ![Jas09](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d07c76/32.png) [@Jas09](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jas09)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2010, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-republican-plan-to-fix-our-economy-and-why-will-it-work/559354/17 "2010-11-03T20:52:43Z")
One might also consider that a certain percentage of the population sincerely believes that government intrusion of any sort into most markets is a net negative, no matter how bad things may seem. So their natural, and to them quite right, inclination is to oppose any sort of government-led plan to “fix” the economy, as they believe by its very nature government is incapable of doing any such thing. So the “plan to fix the economy” is “stop having the government try to fix the economy and let the economy fix itself”. ---
**Author:** ![sqweels](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f19dbf/32.png) [@sqweels](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sqweels)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2010, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-republican-plan-to-fix-our-economy-and-why-will-it-work/559354/18 "2010-11-03T21:49:48Z")
It just occured to me that cutting taxes for the rich is _appeasement_. If we cut taxes on the rich in hopes that they’ll create jobs, that will just embolden them to continue refusing to create jobs so we’ll give them even more tax cuts. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2010, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-republican-plan-to-fix-our-economy-and-why-will-it-work/559354/19 "2010-11-03T22:00:13Z")
The usual answer to this is “we’ll cut waste!” It’s what everyone says they’ll do to control spending. It never happens, of course, but they always say it. ---
**Author:** ![Capitaine\_Zombie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e95f7d/32.png) [@Capitaine\_Zombie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capitaine_Zombie)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2010, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-republican-plan-to-fix-our-economy-and-why-will-it-work/559354/20 "2010-11-03T22:06:18Z")
> [@Jas09](#): > > So the “plan to fix the economy” is > > “stop having the government try to fix the economy and let the economy fix itself”. Did they actually ran for elections with that slogan? If they did, the US is pretty much a unique country. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-republican-plan-to-fix-our-economy-and-why-will-it-work/559354.md?page=2)